Strategic Partners closes Fund VI on $4.4bn

Blackstone’s secondaries arm Strategic Partners Fund Solutions has closed its sixth secondaries fund on its $4.4 billion hard-cap, the firm said in a statement.

Strategic Partners Fund VI is the firm’s first fund raised under the Blackstone name. The fund launched last year with a $3.5 billion target and had collected $3.2 billion as of mid-July and $1.5 billion as of April.

Fund VI received commitments from nearly 300 limited partners in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America, the statement disclosed.

“We are grateful for the support that our limited partners have shown us, which has allowed us to conclude fundraising substantially ahead of schedule and focus on investing SP VI,” co-head of Strategic Partners, Stephen Can, said in the statement.

LPs include the Houston Police Officers’ Pension System, the Minnesota State Board of Investment and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division.

The fund also collected at least $284 million from high net worth individuals, Secondaries Investor revealed last month. The wealthy investors’ commitments were pooled through two separate feeder funds for international and domestic HNWIs respectively.

Fund VI began investing in April 2014 and has acquired limited partner interests and co-investments on the secondaries market. The fund acquired a stake in 3i Eurofund III from the State of Wisconsin Investment Board in July and a stake in Ares European Real Estate Fund III from Bank of America Merrill Lynch in March.

Blackstone acquired Strategic Partners from Credit Suisse in August 2013. The firm has raised more than $16 billion for private equity and real estate secondaries since it was founded in 2000. The firm is led by Can and Verdun Perry.

Strategic Partners is also expected to launch a separate real estate secondaries fund, multiple sources have previously told Secondaries Investor. In July, the firm hired former H/2 Capital executive Mark Burton to oversee its real estate investments.